Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue 0/ Accipitres. 233 



thought of the attempt to indicate its existence by the appli- 

 cation of a distinctive specific name to the Abyssinian race. 



It should also be mentioned that the adults of A. albicans 

 are, for the most part^ less profusely variegated with dark 

 longitudinal marks on their under surface than are those of 

 A. rapax ; but, on the other hand, they sometimes exhibit ab- 

 dominal markings of a character which I have not observed 

 in A. rapax. The most striking instauce of this peculiarity 

 which has come under my notice is displayed in anon-rufous 

 specimen from Bogos-land in the British Museum : in these 

 some of the feathers on the breast, abdomen, and thighs ex- 

 hibit a dark brown centre, surrounded by a whitish brown 

 ring, outside of which is a second ring of dark brown, and be- 

 yond that the edge of the feather, which is of a pale drab. 



I may add that I find no differences between the markings 

 on the quill-feathers of the wings and tail in A. rapax and in 

 A. albicans, though both are subject to slight individual varia- 

 tions; the transverse markings of the tail in both races are 

 usually nine in number ; but they are frequently indistinct, 

 even in adult birds, and sometimes almost imperceptible. 



Amongst the synonyms referred by Mr. Sharpe to A. 

 rapax is " Falco belisarius" of Levaillant, jr., figured in the 

 ' Exploration Scientifique de I'Algerie,' " Oiseaux,^^ pi. 2. 

 Whether the bird there represented is rightly referable to 

 the typical A. rapax, to the eastern A. albicans, or to a third 

 local race not absolutely identical with either of these, is a 

 question which, in the absence of an adequate series of North- 

 African specimens, I am unable to answer. Of the two such 

 to which I have already alluded, one was obtained by the late 

 M. Favier near Tangier, and is preserved in the Norwich 

 Museum ; the other is Mr. Salvin^s Djendeli specimen, which 

 is described in ' The Ibis ' for 1859, p. 181, and which he has 

 kindly lent to me for examination. Both these examples are 

 in moult, the latter being more advanced than the former; 

 in both, the new feathers on the upper parts present a peculiar 

 chocolate tint, which appears to me to differ (especially in the 

 case of the Djendeli bird) from the ordinary coloration both 

 of A. rapax and of A. albicans, but in both cases to approach 



